Monday, February 11, 2013

Myth of democratic transition in Egypt

Comrade Reem: "
Instead, an unreconstructed Ministry of Interior continues to display
the same conduct toward protest under Morsi as under Mubarak,
reflecting entirely securitized understandings of solutions, and
extortionate use of force. On the first anniversary of the mid-November
2011 protests of Mohamed Mahmoud Street, security police used teargas and birdshot pellets at close range, wounding hundreds and claiming the life of April 6 movement activist Gaber Salah, commonly known as Jika.
On 25 January 2013, the same occurred across twelve of Egypt’s
governorates, claiming five lives in Suez alone and wounding nearly 400
nationwide. When families in Port Said reacted angrily at the death
sentences handed out to civilian defendants and not to security
officials, Morsi simply imposed a curfew of thirty days on three cities,
warning that he “would do more” – presumably impose wider emergency law – if not obeyed.
A report issued by Egyptian rights activists
in the wake of these protests noted that 225 people had been detained
from around Tahrir Square alone since the revolution’s second
anniversary, and that this had included minors “subject to torture and
days-long incarceration at Central Security Forces (CSF) training
camps.” Another report,
released by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights in January
2013, documented eleven deaths and ten cases of torture inside Egyptian
police stations during Morsi’s presidency, affirming that police torture
was “still systematic, just as it was under the Mubarak regime.”
Another, by Al-Nadeem Center
for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, documented cases of
detention and torture perpetrated daily throughout the “first 100 days”
of Morsi’s presidency, in which he had promised meaningful change in the security sector and elsewhere.
Last year, it took Morsi all of his 100 days to reach the decision to
release 570 civilians who had been thrown in prison after military
trials since 2011. Almost 12,000 Egyptians were tried in military courts
under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), and
over 8,000 were handed sentences. Most were believed to be among the
poorest of Egypt’s citizens, unable to assure themselves legal
representation. Bringing an end to military trials of civilians had been
one of the main themes of revolutionary demands for justice during the
rule of the military council. Morsi’s flourish of amnesty was too little
too late for many revolutionary activists, after many victims had
perished in jail, or been permanently scarred by their experience.
Mubarak’s Ministry of Interior was notorious for covering up its
crimes and blaming its victims: Orwellian state television regularly
smeared political opposition with charges of foreign conspiracy,
thuggery, and vandalism, while contrasting them with other, unspecified
“honorable citizens.” Meanwhile, security officials were routinely able
to avoid justice. Under Mubarak, the death of Khalid Said
was blamed on his own drug use rather than police beatings seen by
eyewitnesses. The officers later charged with his murder were granted a retrial, on the same day that the officer accused of killing Salafist activist Sayed Bilal in early 2011 was acquitted. Under Morsi, as police repressed protests during the constitutional crisis in late 2012, Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim commended
his police force and their sacrifices, noting that his men had placed
citizens’ safety before their own. Most excruciating of all was the
testimony of Hamada Saber,
the citizen seen beaten by police forces on live television 1 February,
who later claimed he had been attacked by protesters, and thanked the
police for helping him get away. He was then publicly contradicted by
his daughter Randa, and ultimately changed his testimony. She revealed
that her father’s denial had come under severe pressure and threats
from officers in the police hospital where he was being treated, and
that her family had been plied with gifts of sugar, oil and tea in order
to acquiesce in this. Saber’s denial evoked Mubarak-era practices
in which torture was used to intimidate and coerce victims into
silence, whether they were dissidents, criminal suspects, or citizens
abused simply to fulfill confession quotas."

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

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